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A few weeks before Christmas, I noticed that the Tiny Lumberjack hat that I’d knit for Elliot was too small. (He’s really a rather petit little fellow, but growing like a weed.) Meg had it on him with the brim folded down and well… it triggered some grandmother knitting.

I decided he should have a new, bigger one for Christmas. Easy enough. I mucked around with the pattern, changed it to worsted weight, and made it big enough to last him a good long time. One evening while I was knitting it, Joe looked over and complimented the hat and said he’d really like one just like it. Then Pato said the same thing, and then I started thinking about how much Sam loves it when people have matching clothes, and an idea was born. It was a crazy idea – I see that now. I decided I would pound out eight of those hats, one for everyone* knit in time for Christmas. This idea, as mad as it was, had a lot going for it.

a) this is a very cute hat.

b) who doesn’t need a hat, also they are faster to knit than socks.

c) Sam loves matching things so much that I imagined that when she figured out we all had matching hats, she would probably go bananas.

I started. I bought the yarn (then I bought more yarn, seeing immediately that I didn’t have enough**) and then I just kept knitting them. At every occasion I pulled out a grey cabled hat with a red and white striped brim, and nobody said anything.

Nobody in the family caught on that there were multiples of this hat…

and as the hats waxed and waned across my instagram feed, progress gained, lost, then gained again… not a single person left a comment that said anything like “Wing of moth, how long is it going to take you to knit that hat”

or “Did you have to rip back? Were you not almost done that beast?”

or “Is this all you knit now?” (Which would have at least been accurate. It was all I knit. Me. That hat. Morning. Night. By the fire. By the tree. On buses. On airplanes. Everywhere. That hat. All the time.

By Christmas morning I had (almost) all the hats knit. I wrapped them all up, with a label that read “For Joe (and Sam)” “For Meg (and Sam)” “For Alex (and Sam)” and I handed them all out at once. Sam was enchanted and excited….

It was as awesome as I thought it might be, and everyone was so happy, so delighted to be like each other – it got me thinking about teams and uniforms and that maybe Sam is onto something with the matching stuff – maybe it’s comforting to know who’s on your side at a glance.

This was confirmed for me the other night, at our regular dinner with Elliot (and it’s nice to see Meg and Alex too) when Joe wore his hat, and then Ken arrived wearing his, and Elliot looked up at the two of them and you could just see his little mind processing the fact that they had the same hat on, his eyes flicking from pom pom to pom pom. Ken noticed him looking and leaned in. “That’s right” he said. “It’s the same hat….”

“It’s how you can spot your people.”

*I look pretty phallic in most hats, and this one is no exception. I skipped the one for me.

**Wrong again. I have heaps of leftovers. Yarn insecurity is a terrible thing.

Love it, this year I knitted all the men in our family, 4 and 2 friends, the 1898 hat for Christmas. They loved them and on those real cold days my husband wore his in the house.
Next year I already have a skeleton pattern picked out to knit hats for our teen age grandsons. So fun.

So what you’re saying is that you’re depriving us of a picture of a penis with a pompom? (Sorry, I tried “phallus,” but you don’t get the alliteration. I’m all about the alliteration.) I think you owe us.

I don’t think you really have leftovers….While Joe and Pato and Sam and….all have full grown heads, Elliot has got a ways to go. Do you have enough yarn to knit the little guy matching hats to get him to adulthood?? Gotta keep the matchy matchy going.

Didn’t want to say anything on IG! How long it takes you to knit one hat is none of my business. And I’ve made hats that seemed to go on forever.
What an amazing, wonderful idea! Perfect for the tribe of those who love that darling, darling baby! This was the perfect year for this. (Could you use the same yarn, but A hat pattern that you’re more comfortable wearing? You really should have a team hat!)

It was pretty easy to figure out that you were knitting identical hats for a lot of people on your list! The different stages of the hat kept appearing everywhere but completely out of order! 🙂
I thought it best to keep your plan under wraps in case someone in your family was lurking around…

As an aside, you can avoid the splotchy effect of changing colors in ribbing by just knitting the first row of the new color. You then go back to the knit/purl pattern. You don’t notice the break in pattern and no Morse Code effect.

We have about 30000000000 of these (commercially knit) patterned wool socks around here, slowly having holes worn through them over time. They were my husband’s favourites for years, until fun socks for business guys started to be a thing a few years ago. I think I might need to make him a hat like this, reminiscent of his old favourite socks!

Also, I LOVE the matching hats, LOVE that squishy bebe, and totally realised there was more than one hat (the circumferences looked different) but figured there was a reason in it 🙂

Stephanie, I think it was you that wrote about needing to be IN the pictures, not just TAKING the pictures, not just for you, but for everyone who will want you as part of the family record. I think if the hats designate the team…you might need to also have a hat, because Elliott is going to ask you about it. (I’m sorry for my feelings here, as I also look phallic in hats, and thus feel your pain.)

Yes I am in total agreement with you! Can we have a vote in? We want S. to have a matching hat and post a picture of her in it. We want to see what a penis w/ pompom looks like. We want to be able to judge for ourselves. We love you so much we don’t care what anyone else thinks. We want you to match. And a picture!

I once knit matching scarves for a family (of three, I am not insane) and they loved it. Your post makes me think that the hat was not knit for worsted yarn. Can you add the modifications in your Rav description, if you have not already? You know we all want to knit them now. I still struggle with how many stitches to cast on. I like to only kit hats in worsted but cast on can be anything from about 88 to 120 and I think an adult hat should be more standard. I am getting used to resizing everything down to about 96 stitches to cast on, but get tired doing math all the time and hoping for the best.

Most heartwarming story of Christmas 2017–it was a very hard Christmas for our family with one of our beloved member’s passing this summer. Your hats and resolve to honor your mum’s holiday traditions are a tribute to the true meaning of the season. Next year we will all have hats for our tribe. Thank you, Yarn Harlot!

When you find yourself buying six skeins of yarn because the color has been discontinued and the online store has only six skeins left, and you adore the color, but you’re planning to make a baby afghan that you KNOW will only take four at the most, and you’re planning on using two colors, it’s a yarn problem. I am a yarn junkie. I keep telling myself that as long as I keep it organized, it doesn’t matter, but it matters.

Well, OF COURSE you buy all six! How else can you make the baby and parents (or sibs) hats to match the blanket? I’m currently knitting a baby blanket in the parents’ uni colors, plus a baby hat with three stripes, a larger one with two for his 3yo brother and a larger-still one with one stripe for their 6yo brother. If all are done on time, they will be mailed to Kansas, labeled “do not open until X3.0’s arrival.”

I hope that by knitting these hats with a secret gifting plan, you were able to enjoy your family a bit on Christmas. Your Mum would want you to enjoy your family. You deserve it. Those hats are beautiful and what a great idea!!!

Just for mental preservation, yoiu should probably never do that again. I would set my second one on fire, but no way I could knit that many. On the other hand, that is easily one of the very coolest things you have EVER done.

She almost has to now, for every new member of the family, until the end of time. Every new spouse, every new grandkid and great-grandkid. She should just always have a bushel of infant, child, and adult-sized versions of these hats in a box in her closet for the rest of her life and give them out as needed. It’s the McPhee Family Hat now. 🙂

Sorry, Ms. McPhee. Didn’t mean to overcommit you, but then if I did, how would you notice? O:-)

I’m with you on the hats and Sam on the matching! In the last 12 months I’ve knit 22 Clayoquot Toques, and weirdly I’m still enjoying it….colourwork seems fast, people love them, endless colour combinations, I’ve memorised the pattern for most of the sizes now.

Oh I also meant to say – I also have the phallic hat problem, big time. The key is a toque that’s knit a bit looser, slightly slouchy at the top, and a big pompom – I’m especially a fan of the faux fur ones I take off weird keychains from Michaels or Ardene’s. I have so far managed to make TWO! TinCanKnits Prism Toque, knit just slightly big for me, and a Gregory Hat in a locally dyed yarn called Dye for Ewe. You can see the Prism toque on my instagram, tiamatfire, if you’re curious! It’s just a few days back. Wild 90’s colours. Also featuring a massive tartan blanket scarf because I was in downtown Winnipeg and the windchill that day was -35C.

I just finished reading your blog from start to finish. The entry on April 28th after Elliot was born made me laugh out loud. I would read a year or so at night before going to bed. It’s taken me over three months more or less but it’s been a lot of fun. I hope you don’t mind but being a believer, I prayed for you and your extended family today—for health and success and continued good fortune and the blessings you obviously enjoy. I Thank you for your blog. Ravelry thanks you for your blog as I’ve bought many many patterns from them on your recommendation. I’ve started my own version sock club hoping to make a gift of socks hat or mittens one a month. Thank you for your wit and wisdom and sharing your talents to help encourage others. Sincerely, Maria. Five year knitter, maker of socks, mitts, hats and scarves.

Is there a link to the adult-sized version of this pattern as well, or is it all in your head? Because I would love to knit this, and I *could* buy the original pattern and try to size it up, but math is hard. I am much less likely to have to re-knit it five times if I have a pattern. (It’s still not guaranteed, though.)

Never even guessed there were more than 2 (I saw Elliott’s had got too small and thought all the others were just a bigger version of the original)! Terrific job, way to give everyone something to laugh about this Christmas. Much love always.

I love it — how you knit the same hat for the whole family and no one caught on. I knit red scarves for a hospital project, and I’m often knitting at a group meeting. One of the guys asked me one time, “Don’t you ever get finished?”

Oh, you all having the same hats makes me so very happy. I’m not sure why as I will never see these hats in person but there it is. Sam is contagious. Across the internets. (She is powerful, that one.) The idea that you can tell your people fills me with joy. Must go now. Must search out opportunities for matching.

That is awesome! You are awesome! Thank you for the idea of “how to find my people” for next year. The best part? They’ll think of each and every one of them in their crew every time they put it on.
Happy New Year.

Well done. I did think perhaps that you’d had to make a replacement hat, but really I didn’t notice. That is a wonderful way to make a memorable Christmas…I’d be worried about it being a tradition. Maybe next year mittens from the leftover bits?

I actually thought “Is she knitting yet another one of those hats?!” – but I didn’t comment as I tend to feel a bit “shy-ish” seen that I know you only from your blog and Instagram.
The hats look great – but it truly looks best on Elloit!

So I love the idea of the matching hats! I’m totally doing this next year! I have five kids and whenever we go out I put everyone in the same shirt so 1) I can spot them and 2) if someone wonders off a helpful stranger can easily help out, “She’s wearing this shirt.” I get the shirts at Christmas. One year we got our favorite sports team shirts, one year we all got Harry’s Quidditch team shirts. I love it tells everyone, we are a team.

My emotions must be on overdrive. The end of this post gave me ALL. THE. FEELS!! I literally felt the tears and the catch in my throat as I read:
“That’s right” he said. “It’s the same hat….It’s how you spot your people.”

Just had a thought about all that “extra” yarn: you have a large, loving extended family. I suspect there is going to be lobbying for hats so additional members can declare themselves to be part of the clan.

I guess it’s just that we trust your knitting and if you are knitting the same damn hat for 17 days then you have a reason. 😉
Also- Elliott is a tremendously cute baby. And that’s saying something because babies are just super cute in general, but he is exceptionally adorable. I mean, it’s almost unfair to other babies. Thanks for all the photos of the fam.

You’ve inspired me to do this too. In our house it’s just me and my 2 sons, and I’d love it if we went out together in matching hats. I’d say it would make my boys easier to spot, but my youngest is 6’4″, so I can pick him out of a crowd anytime. 🙂

Personally, I don’t look phallic until I take the hat off, but with a hat this cute, why would you want to take it off?

Adorable Family (especially Elliott!). I, as well, do not like the look of a toque on my head. I think its the curly hair that makes the wrong shape. I much prefer a tammie and the way it leans does something positive for me. Love your hats!

Steph, you are totally awesome. Everyone looks great in their hats but you definitely need one as Tribe Leader. Please make one for yourself also. Tell Sam that her green hair is awesome. I was thinking of purple but now everyone is doing purple. Maybe deep copper with purple streaks!

I did this with socks for our troop’s hoarde of little girls. 7 pairs of wee, pink striped socks. Pair that with a blanket I made this year that was mostly pink, I never want to knit a pink thing again.

I did the same this year with matching socks for my family. I have the say the pattern (Arinn) was darling the socks knit so fast I couldn’t believe how fast they knit up and how much I enjoyed knitting them. Yarn insecurity is the reason I have four skeins of untouched yarn I **knew** I was going to need for these socks. I have however hit peak saturation for the pattern it’s going to be several months before I even think about knitting them again.

I ended up doing something simliar for the men and little boys in the family. Like you it started with one hat, than others saying they like it, ans suddenly All i was knitting was hats.
During last week’s very cold snap all the hats were worn and loved.
Durham, North Carolina
US

This confirms it – I am going forward with my plan. There is a very good chance my nephew will participate in the next winter Canada Games. My plan? Matching hats (possibly mitts as well) using the colours of the NS flag for all the family – that’s TEN hats – a team within the team.

As a fan of your blog – I did wonder! I saw you made one hat for Elliot already and assumed from your pics that you were working on another one for Joe (it seems like his kind of hat!) – but had no idea this is what was going on.

I did wonder why you were working on ONE hat for most of December! However – I chalked it up to your being sad (and busy traveling) and thought your knitting speed must have plummeted to a “one hat per month” speed.

Anyway – what a wonderful post. (I knit a grey sweater once and miles of grey can feel like a prison after a while. Lots of grey knitting in the winter is not a great idea! It requires some funky self-striping sock yarn to avoid melancholy!)

What a great team and great hats with the cutest baby mascot ever! Now I did notice the same knitting in subsequent posts but who would I be to ever question the Yarnharlot’s knitting decisions or how long it was taking? Never! Knew she was up to something!! Well done!

How I love this. And this is obviously why Ken is your BFF.
Matching cowls for Valentine’s? Sam’s turn to knit!
You have enough knitters in your expanded family that the Team gift (terrific idea but madness if you’re the one knitting and on a deadline) shouldn’t rotate back to you for at least 5 Years, hopefully more. Long enough to forget the imprint of the hat when you closed your eyes and the muttering of the pattern in your sleep and long enough to be totally charmed by the idea again.
Looks like someone is working on a tooth? Or has he nailed his signature look for knitwear model shots?

When you said you pulling of the Hat Extravaganza of knitting, I pictured a wide range of colours, patterns, yarn weights….but THIS situation more than explains the ennui you said you were battling!!!!! Not only so-many-identical, but so-many-in-a-row!!!! At least previous commenters were right: if you want to keep subsequent additions to the family in the “your people” category, you’ll only have to do ONE at a time, assuming you can face it by that point!!

(That “is that all you knit now?” paragraph is ripe for a rewrite as a Dr. Seuss-ian rhyme….Anyone??)

Nothing whatsoever about this post (which I have not read). I’m a completist, and I’ve been reading your blog from Ground Zero and am up to 12/2006. I just wanted to say that today I listened to an NPR article in which the organization MSF was mention, and I knew exactly what/who that was and that there was a knitting off-shoot, all because I’ve been reading your blog. I could even picture Ben whenever they mentioned MSF! Thank you for expanding my world and my understanding of my place in it.

You need a hat. It has to be the same. Elliot needs to know that YOU also are part of ‘his people’. Elliot will not yet have the discrimination to see that ear muffs, or a cowl, or a Wurm in the same yarn is the same thing. Tiny Lumberjack for the win. Team Harlot!

I’m thinking that perhaps you might reinvent the wurm hat with some striping. That hat looks cute on you. I, too, look phallic in hats. I’m not sure if it is actually me or the fact that I have zero ability to accessorize. I fantasize about a perfectly tied scarf or a little shawlet thrown casually over my shoulders. And I generally end up looking like I should be pushing a baby carriage full of kittens and empty Fresca cans. Crazy!

Okay, that so totally cracked me up, especially as I have exactly the same problem! Your image is priceless. If I try to put a “fashion scarf” around my neck to look glamourous, I just look as though I have the mumps, or a dreadful tooth infection.

An excellent scheme! Take a bow.
That is a very charming hard but it looks best I think on Elliot.
Having extra yarn in this case is a very very good thing because when the family expands… you’ll be ready!

What a lovely thing, (although clearly a heck of a lot of work for you). Reminds me of Tim Minchin’s modern Christmas carol, “White Wine in the Sun”, where he sings that these are the people who’ll make you feel safe in this world. You did a good thing, thank you for sharing it with us.

I have designed a worsted weight connections hat. It has ponytail, and messy bun options and just a plain worsted hat. I have all sizes and you can coordinate colours for everyone. I love this. Mine is reversible cables so no pom poms. It comes out on my calendar in September 2018.

I now understand why you felt the urge to slap hats off strangers! As fast as you produce finished items, I am truly amazed that nobody in your family thought it odd that you kept reappearing with the same work in progress.

That first photo of Elliot in the hat is just absolutely adorable. So cute it could be in a catalogue. And the matching hats for all the people just made me tear up a bit. It’s so wonderful. Sam knows what she’s talking about.

I love matching hats.
My family all has matching hats. We wear them every time we go out (not in summer, obviously). We also wear matching clothes sometimes. People used to comment on how we all match, but it doesn’t happen anymore. I can easily spot who has my babies! I have 3 toddlers to keep track off, I like that I can always pick them out of a crowd fast, while my friends are struggling to find which baby is theirs haha. The thing that makes them stand out from each other is their hair colour, they’re all different. Brown, platinum blonde, and red.

When I saw the title, I immediately thought you were going to announce Elliot will have a sibling sometime this year. For some reason, in my family, when anyone turned up pregnant (love that phrase) my parents would say, “I saw ________ today. The rabbit died.” I’m pretty sure this refers to the male rabbit’s reaction to successful sex. Took me a while to figure it out, though.

The first time I saw Ellit’s hat I immediately thought “sock monkey”. (On my phone, in the stands at the hockey rink in low light the hat looked brown rather than grey). So maybe you could use the leftovers to knit El a sock rabbit to match his hat and perhaps the competition will cause Mr. Disappointing Rabbit to up his game. (Haven’t blog cruised in a while so I’m reading in reverse chronological order.)